How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC? • Hacker News Board

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#101

Post by ghaff » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 6:40 PM UTC

jonahrd wrote: post #93

ghaff wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory. The commuter rail I sometimes take follows an old rail right of way. Some of the stations are in fairly developed areas. But some of those, like Concord, presumably predate even the original rail. And a lot of the towns are pretty spread out. You can't walk to much until you get to the last two stops in the city proper.

This is because the T is not a "real" transit system in the way that it's simply not designed to move enough people fast enough to compete with cars.

Well, if I’m going into the city 9 to 5ish I’ll usually take commuter rail because it’s less painful even if it takes as long as driving. But I do need to drive to and park at the nearby commuter rail station.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#102

Post by 7thpower » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 6:56 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #11

I'm of the opinion that every 500k+ city should have a subway line. I grew up in a city with one (just one for the majority of my 20 years there) and if there's one thing I miss from that place it's the ability to move at an average speed of 35km/h at any time the trains were operating, especially at 2am on a Friday night after a couple of beers with the guys. The other thing I noticed when I was visiting my family t…

Have you spent much time in ~500k cities? Many of them have a lot of sprawl and very little traffic.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#103

Post by lotsofpulp » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 6:57 PM UTC

showerst wrote: post #30

llamaimperative wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then landowners who were “smart” enough to own land where this ends up going in get to reap all the financial upside, instead of the public which actually invested in that infrastructure. Just imagine if the public could capture the (financial) upside it produces, then it could apply that money to do the same thing down the road, then do the same thing again down the road further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He…

A version of this is common now in the US through Tax Increment Financing. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ipd/value_capture/defined/tax_incre...

I don’t see how that is a version of what llamaimperative posts.

If anything, TIF increases rewards for landowners who do nothing or otherwise underutilize land. Taxing the product of work to make a piece of land beneficial for society is amazingly backwards.

The proper direction to go in is marginal land value tax rates, with increasing penalties the longer a spaces remains unused.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#104

Post by School-Cotton » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:03 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #11

I'm of the opinion that every 500k+ city should have a subway line. I grew up in a city with one (just one for the majority of my 20 years there) and if there's one thing I miss from that place it's the ability to move at an average speed of 35km/h at any time the trains were operating, especially at 2am on a Friday night after a couple of beers with the guys. The other thing I noticed when I was visiting my family t…

Where would you put the subway line in Tucson, AZ?

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#105

Post by School-Cotton » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:06 PM UTC

fldskfjdslkfj wrote: post #38

It's crazy how dysfunctional the state structure can be - in any functioning country the subway would extend to NJ.

There is a subway that connects Manhattan and NJ, called the PATH. Unfortunately it’s run by a completely different organization, which I agree is silly.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#106

Post by mannykannot » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:08 PM UTC

jpalawaga wrote: post #46

Something here is not quite right. For example, if you look at the 7th ave line (red line/1,2,3) 18th street and 14th street have similar radii. But anyone knows that 14th street is much more convenient because it's triply serviced by the 1,2,3 with 2,3 being express trains. 18th street is serviced by one train the runs locally. This ignores that you could easily switch to the L, A/C/E, F/M with a short walk. Still,…

I see what you mean. According to this map, you can get from the 18th. street station to the 1st ave. stop on the L in ten minutes, but not from 14th. street.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#107

Post by jeromegv » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:16 PM UTC

RhysU wrote: post #78

llamaimperative wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then landowners who were “smart” enough to own land where this ends up going in get to reap all the financial upside, instead of the public which actually invested in that infrastructure. Just imagine if the public could capture the (financial) upside it produces, then it could apply that money to do the same thing down the road, then do the same thing again down the road further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He…

> Just imagine if the public could capture the (financial) upside it produces... Like through taxes on the sale of the property or the increased business income it produces? The public will.

This typically goes to the higher level of government. Not the local one that manage and build that transit system.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#108

Post by markkanof » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:25 PM UTC

euroderf wrote: post #100

keiferski wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in / visited a few dozen cities in Europe, I actually think trams are generally preferable to subways. In places with both, I tend to use the trams almost exclusively. A hop on, hop off tram system is much quicker and efficient than going into a subway station, then back up, etc. At least if you aren’t going entirely across town.

Trams do need dedicated lanes.

Not necessarily. Unless I am misunderstanding what specifically is being referred to as a tram. In Portland, Oregon for example, we have small trains that run at street level and share lanes with automobile traffic.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#109

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:26 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #88

Tade0 wrote: post #11

I'm of the opinion that every 500k+ city should have a subway line. I grew up in a city with one (just one for the majority of my 20 years there) and if there's one thing I miss from that place it's the ability to move at an average speed of 35km/h at any time the trains were operating, especially at 2am on a Friday night after a couple of beers with the guys. The other thing I noticed when I was visiting my family t…

Having lived in / visited a few dozen cities in Europe, I actually think trams are generally preferable to subways. In places with both, I tend to use the trams almost exclusively. A hop on, hop off tram system is much quicker and efficient than going into a subway station, then back up, etc. At least if you aren’t going entirely across town.

> * trams are generally preferable to subways. In places with both, I tend to use the trams almost exclusively*

In towns with trams I've found Ubers almost always faster. That said, most American trams are at grade, so you get a bus that can't change lanes.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#110

Post by keiferski » Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:27 PM UTC

euroderf wrote: post #100

keiferski wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in / visited a few dozen cities in Europe, I actually think trams are generally preferable to subways. In places with both, I tend to use the trams almost exclusively. A hop on, hop off tram system is much quicker and efficient than going into a subway station, then back up, etc. At least if you aren’t going entirely across town.

Trams do need dedicated lanes.

Depends on the city, but in most places the lanes are wide enough that a tram-designated area isn’t really an issue. Even then, it wouldn’t be a horrible idea if an avenue (running north-south) or two in Manhattan had one less lane for cars and one more for trams.